104 Market Street, Pittsburgh, PA
The J. E. Newman Company was established in 1936 located in Pittsburgh, PA. J. E. Newman Co. started out producing knobs and handles for various manufacturing companies and industries across the country. Some of the lesser known knobs that Newman Company produced were glass beer tap knobs and aluminum beer tap knobs from 1936 to 1938 era.
in 1936, J. E. Newman and Company began producing glass beer ball tap knobs for various breweries primarily on the east coast from states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut just to name a few. The knobs were made came in 7 different colors and were opaque in clarity; the colors ranged from red, blue, green, yellow, white, tan, and black. All of which were etched and painted with a fired-on enamel paint.
At this time breweries were being mandated to mark what beer was on each tap in various establishments like bars, tavern, cafes, hotels, and distributors. Tap markers were the solution and what Newman Company was producing was some of the earliest known versions of tap markers produced. Newman glass knobs were only produced during 1936 because they were expensive to produce, painted enamel lettering would wear quickly, and the glass knobs were susceptible to breakage. After the glass knobs were proven to be obsolete in 1936, Newman Co. began producing aluminum beer ball tap knobs which were produced up until the company closed in 1938.
Some of the breweries that contracted Newman Company to produced beer tap knobs for them were breweries like Adam Scheidt, Iron City, Duquesne, Tarr, Fort Pitt, Victor, Koch, Latrobe, Liebert & Obert, Stoney, South Fork, Lackawanna, Old Anchor, Esslingers, Carnegie, Goenner & Co., Greensburg, Oconto, Moerlein, Fox Hunt, White Crown, Old Billy, Tamo Shanter, Old Dobbin, Lion, Gilt Edge, Rainier, Zang, Blatz, Ortels, Toby, and Pabst just to name a few.
Below are a few examples of Newman beer tap knobs:
